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The Ultimate Coach

The GFDA has recently launched a crowd funding campaign to raise funds to bring UK Ultimate coach Felix Shardlow to South Africa to provide intensive coaching for our two fledgling outreach clubs, the Orange Farm Ultimates and the Soweto Ultimates.

You can view our campaign here – please feel free to spread this link far and wide to help us raise the necessary funds !

Who is Felix ?

Felix has played Ultimate since 2000, and has had a decorated career including :

won UK Open Indoor Nationals with Brighton – became an open indoor national champion (2005)

competed at World Championships in Perth, Australia, with London team Thundering Herd (2006)

won most valuable player award in Final of Mixed Outdoor Nationals (finished 2nd) (2009)

won European Club Championships (mixed division) with Brighton Ultimate club (2009)

won UK Mixed Outdoor Nationals – became a mixed outdoor national champion (2010)

played for Great Britain Open team in European Championships – finished 2nd (2011)

played for Clapham Ultimate – 1st at UK Open Outdoor Nationals, 2nd at European Club Championships (2011)

played for Brighton City, finishing consistently in the top 4 at Nationals in the Open Division (2012 – 2015)

As a coach, Felix is in high demand. He is the current coach of the Sussex University Club who has won several National Championships in the UK, as well as the Sussex University Women’s Team, who has been 7 times National Champions. Felix has also coached the Brighton Ultimate Club for over a decade – their accolades include European Mixed Club Champions (2009), Mixed National Champions (2010) and consistently Top 5 at the UK Open National Championships. In 2015 he coached the Great Britain Under 23 Mixed team to a 5th place finish (of 12) at the World Championships.

You can learn more about his on his website here – oh yeah, by the way he invented the Hexagon Offense !

Why do we want to bring Felix to South Africa ?

The GFDA is committed to transformation in our community to be more reflective of our Rainbow Nation, and the upliftment of previously disadvantaged peoples. Our goal is to upskill the Soweto Ultimates and Orange Farm Ultimates so that they are competitive locally, and to subsequently have players from those teams selected for the various South African national teams (the Mambas, Scorpions, Bafazi Bafazi and Wild Dogs).

South Africa is geographically isolated from the rest of the Ultimate community and we have never had access to a high level coach like Felix before. Both outreach teams also coach children, so Felix’s impact will be felt well beyond his initial trip.

In addition, Felix will run clinics for our two University teams, the Wits VooDoo Kudus and the Tuks Labradors. Participants will learn how to recruit, retain, and develop players at university level. The outdoor session will cover how to coach throwing and catching to beginners, how they should approach the games of Ultimate where beginners are involved (how to explain the rules simply), and then move onto how they can develop these beginners into all-round players, using drills to teach good basic cutting/marking technique. The classroom session indoors will teach participants how to plan out a season, and how to plan individual training sessions to get the most out of the time & their players.

We intend to also run clinics for established teams in Gauteng to help raise funds. (More information on these clinics coming soon !)

What will our expenses be ?

The flight from the UK to South Africa is approximately US$750. In addition, we’ll need to provide meals for 2 weeks (approximately US$300) as well as transportation (approximately US$50). We will also run a paid clinic for the established clubs in the region to contribute towards his costs. Any excess funds raised will go to supporting Orange Farm Ultimates and Soweto Ultimates (e.g. buying kit and discs, or transportation to tournaments).